Road-bed equipment for railroads.



1. 0. KNEEDLER. ROAD BED EQUIPMENT FOR RAILROADS.

I APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8- I917.

Patented July. 31-,"1917.

JOHN D. KNEEDLER, OF SIOUX CITY, IQWA.

ROAD-BED EQUIPMENT FOR RAILROADS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 31, 1917.

Application filed March 8, 1917. Serial No. 153,283.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN D. KNEEDLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sioux City, in the county of vVoodbury and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Road -Bed Equipments for Railroads; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

y invention relates to a new and improved road bed equipment for railroads and is an improvement over my former Patents, Nos. 843,216, dated February 5, 1907; 855,643, dated June 4, 1907, and 919,183, dated April 20, 1909.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a metal reinforced concrete road bed equipment that will be safe, durable and economical and which will reduce the number of rail ties to practically one half per mile of track from those now commonly employed.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a road bed equipment that will eliminate constant and expensive renewals and repairs and maintain a uniform and perfeet alinement of the track and prevent spreading of the track rails and thereby reduce the danger of derailment of trains to a minimum and thereby avoid many serious accidents.

Another object of the invention is to provide an equipment that is fully capable of supporting with safety the heavy locomotives that are now employed on all trunk lines and to provide ample means for maintaining the equipment in uniform position by preventing lateral or longtiudinal movement of the equipment in either direction.

These and other objects and advantages will more fully appear as the nature of the invention is more clearly understood from the combination, construction and arrangement of the parts thereof as clearly set forth in the following specification, defined in the subject matter of the claims, and illustrated in the several views of the drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of one of the ties of the equipment, the heads of the rails being omitted and the webs shown in section.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow, the head of the rail in this instance being shown.

ig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrow.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the keeper employed.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the anchor plate or rail chair employed in connection with the keeper shown in Fig. 4.

By referring to the drawings it will be noted that the tie which I employ in my road bed equipment is formed of two sections and as both of the sections are identical in formation and construction the same refer-- ence numerals will be employed to indicate the corresponding parts of each of the sections, the only diflerence between the sections residing in the manner of operatively positioning the sections with respect to each other.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the main body of the tie sections and 2 the enlarged auxiliary body portions or rail supporting members formed upon the main body portions 1 in proximity to their outer ends and disposed transversely of the longitudinal direction of the main body portions 1 and parallel with the respective rails of the track, and at the juncture of the inner walls of the auxiliary body portions or rail supporting members 2 and the contiguous walls of the main body portions 1 are the reinforcing filler members or blocks 3. The main body portions 1, the auxiliary body portions or rail supporting members 2 and the reinforcing filler members or blocks 3 are formed of a suitable plastic composition and suitably metal reinforced by the metallic fabric or other suitable metallic reinforcing members as indicated at 4 in Figs. 2 and 3. The under sides of the main body portions 1 and the auxiliary or rail supporting members 2 are formed with the enlarged grooves 5, as shown in Fig. 1, these grooves 5 being provided with the upwardly converging side walls 6. By the provision and the specific construction of the grooves 5 the respective members of the ties are enabled to embed themselves in the material of which the road bed is formed and are practically self tamping, and at the same time the edges 7 of the tie sections at the sides of the grooves 5 cut their way into the material of the roadbed:

adapted to register with 7 the adjacent facing and eliiciently prevent both lateral and longitudinal displacement of the tie sections.

The tie sections are formed by molding the same in a specifically constructed mold, and during the molding process there are embedded in the plastic material the oppositely disposed pairs of metallic ferrules or tubes 8, each pair being disposed centrally within the auxiliary body portions or rail supporting members 2 of the tie sections, and in which ferrules or tubes 8 are driven the wooden inserts 9, the ferrules or tubes 8 being embedded a sufficient depth in the tie sections for receiving the rail spikes 10, the heads of which engage the upper edges of the base 11 of the rails 12.

During the molding of the tie sections there is embedded in proximity to each of the ends of the auxiliary body portions 2 the meta'l frame'sor keeper's which are of elongated rectangular conformation and are embedded Within the plastic material in a manner that their upper surfaces will lie slightly below the plane of the upper surfaces of the auxiliary body portions 2 and lie in a direction transversely of the bases 11 of the rails 12.

with the flanges 14: adapted to" be engaged by the plastic material in such a manner as to prevent the displacement of the frames or keepers 13 when handling the finished tie sections, and there'are also formed in the frames 13 the elongated longitudinally extending slots' 15. By positioning the upper surfaces of the frames 13 belowthe plane of the upper surfaces of the auxiliary body portions 2 there are provided the recesses 16 in the plastic composition above the frames 13. h

There are also formed in the upper surface of the inner portions of the main body portions 1 of the tie sections the channels 17 one another when the ends of the inner portions 1 of the tie sections are positioned operatively face to face but in slightly spaced relation from each other, so that, when the tie bar 18' is seated in the channels 17 with its ends secured to the respective members 1 through the" medium of the bolts 19' the tie sections are operatively connected together in such a manner as toprovide the space 20 between ends of the tie sections, whereby to provide suitable flexibility to the tie which is due to theflexibility of the connecting tie bar 18 and the space 20 to provide for freedom ofmovement of the tie sections relative to each other.

Positioned beneath the bases 11 of the rails 12 are the anchor plates or rail chairs 21 upon which the bases of the rails rest and between the flanges 22 provided with the rounded corners 23 at one end of the plates 21 and the flanges 2 1 also provided The frames or keepers 13 are provlded at their lower end portions with the rounded corners 25 at the opposite end of the plates 21. The flange 22, how ever, is provided with the overhanging clamp or lug 26" for engaging the upper surfaces of the inner edges of the rail bases 11 when the rails 12 have been seated upon the plates 21, the lugs 26 engaging the inner edges of the bases 11 of the rails 12 and efficiently aiding the spikes 10 for preventing the toppling over be occasioned by the lateral force of the wheels of the trains directed thereagainst, and the respective flanges 22 and 2 1' also aid the spikes 10 for preventing any lateral displacement of the rails 12- and at the same time prevent skewing or twisting action of the tie sections, and by providing the flanges 22 and 24 with the rounded corners 2'3 and 25' respectively enables the anchor plates or rail chairs 21 to be' efficiently employed in conjunction with the curved rails used in the curves of the track. The anchor plates or rail chairs 21 are adapted'to'be removably seated within the recesses 16' of the auxiliary body portions or rail supporting members 2 with their under edges resting uponthe upper surfaces of the frames or keepers 13, and formed longitudinally and centrally upon the under sides of the plates 21 are the elongated ribs or flanges 27, which ribs or flanges 27 are of sufficient length and width to'b'e snugly seated within the sl ots'15 of the plates or keepers 13' and by these means the plates 21 are prevented from longitudinal and lateral displacement when the same have been placed in operative position within the framesor keepers 13 and beneath thebase membersll of the rails 12. However, the plates 21 are'capable of being removed when necessary to replace the same or otherwise repair the track, and atthe same time the plates 24' are capable of having their positions reversed within the frames or keepers 13 so that the plates 21 may be readily used at either side of the track but may be so positioned, when deemed necessary, so as to position the lugs 26' at the outer side of the base members 11' of; the rails 12 instead of at the'inner' sides of the rails as shown in Fig; 1. I

As it sometimes becomes necessary to shim the track and in order to provide for such operations, there are embedded in the outer ends of the main body portions 1 of the tie sections the metallic ferrules'or' tubes 28 during the molding of the tie sections and which ferrules or tubes 28 project entirely through the ends of the tie sections 'frmtop to bottom and are adapted to receive the wooden plugs or inserts 29 through which may be driven a spike of sufficient length to pass therethrough arid into the shim employed for a suflicient depth for holdiiig' the shim (not shown) in operative position be"- neath the outer ends of the the sections.

of the rails 12 which may 1 Having described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a road bed equipment of the character specified, the combination with track rails, of a metallic reinforced plastic tie formed in sections positioned in spaced longitudinal alinement with each other, a tie bar for yieldingly connecting said sections together, rail supporting members upon said tie sections, means for securing the rails upon said rail supporting members, and means upon the ends of said rail supporting members to aid the rail securing means in retaining said rails upon said rail supporting members.

2. In a road bed equipment of the character specified, the combination with track rails, of a metallic reinforced plastic tie formed in sections positioned in spaced longitudinal alinement with each other, a tie bar for yieldingly connecting said sections together, said sections comprising main body portions and enlarged transversely disposed rail supporting members formed integral with said main body portions, oppositely disposed pairs of metallic tubes embedded in said rail supporting members and disposed centrally therein, Wooden inserts within said metallic tubes into which are driven the spikes for holding said rails, frames embedded in the upper portions of said rail supporting members in proximity to the ends thereof, and plates seated in said frames provided with means for clamping the bases of said rails to aid the spikes in maintaining said rails upon said base supporting members.

3. In a road bed equipment of the character specified, the combination with track rails, of a metallic reinforced plastic tie formed in sections positioned in spaced longitudinal alinement With each other, a tie bar for yieldingly connecting said sections together, said sections comprising a main body portion and enlarged transversely disposed rail supporting members formed integral with said main body portions, oppositely disposed pairs of metallic tubes embedded in said rail supporting members and disposed centrally therein, wooden inserts within said metallic tubes into which are driven the spikes for holding said rails, frames embedded in the upper portions of said rail supporting members in proximity to the ends thereof, plates seated in said frames provided with means for clamping the bases of said rails to aid the spikes in maintaining said rails upon said base supporting members, said frames and said plates of said rail supporting members, coacting together for maintaining said rail supporting members in strict alinement with said track rails, and means provided in the outer end portions of the main body portions of said tie sections adapted to receive a spike for holding a shim beneath said tie sections.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of 70 two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN D. KNEEDLER.

Vitnesses:

GEO. J. N. SMITH, EARL E. SNELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

